It took 11 months for the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., an agency that investigates police shootings, to complete its investigation, the IIO’s Jeremy Owen told the coroner and jury on the final day of the five-day inquest.

After dinner Friday, the jury began its deliberations on what recommendations, if any, to make to the coroner to try to prevent a repeat of the death, and they’re expected this weekend.

The IIO waited another seven months for a ballistics report and in September 2016 its report was forwarded to the Crown prosecutor, said Owen.

Five months later, in February 2017, the Crown announced it found no reason to lay charges against the officers involved.

It took another year for the coroner’s inquest to be held, more than three years after Du died.

“We appreciate that that’s too long,” said Owen. “The chief civilian director has spoken publicly about reducing the time” it takes for investigations.

He said the delay was caused by a seven-month wait for the forensic report from the lab.

“The forensic ballistics work needs speeding up,” said Owen.

The IIO has found a lab that it can use to bypass the backlog and has changed some of its internal procedures so the investigations are now carried out more quickly.

He pointed out the IIO’s report into the shooting death of Abbotsford Const. John Davidson late last year, in which it ruled that officers were justified in shooting at the suspect who shot Davidson, was completed in three months.

Answering a juror’s question about whether that investigation was speedier because it was an officer and not a civilian that was killed, Owen said “had the file come in now, they would have been handled in the same amount of time.”

The inquest also heard that Du’s family weren’t advised of details about his death until this week’s inquest.

But Owen said the IIO always releases as much information to family members as it can without jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation.

“The family says it hasn’t been given that information,” said Frances Mahon, who was representing Du’s family.

Owen said the IIO has hired liaison officials and has improved its procedures for keeping family members informed of their investigation.

He said the chief civilian director has “made it very plain” that more information be made available to the victim’s family and that he was “going and visiting some of the affected families himself.”

Du’s sister, Lien Chan, had her lawyer read a statement to the inquest, in which the family described him as a “kind, caring soul,” who always shared what he had, no matter how little, with others.

They said he was “truly altruistic” and a hard worker who had two janitorial jobs until he couldn’t work any longer because of his mental illness.

Pivot Legal Society is recommending a series of changes for police dealing with people with mental illness, including more crisis training for officers and 911 call takers, and wherever possible the use of shields as opposed to guns and Tasers when dealing with a person in distress where violence is possible.

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